Claudia Yan

Peopling of NYC

5/14/2015

MHC Journal 12

In our last reading for the class, we read TRANSNATIONALISM PERSONIFIED: YOUNG

RETURNING TRINIDADIANS ‘IN THEIR OWN WORDS’ by Robert B. Potter, Dennis Conway & Godfrey St. Bernard. The journal served to look at the significance of flexibility and the need amongst people in the diaspora to be able to adapt to their surroundings. Dual citizenship was a common occurrence as it could be seen that immigrants wanted to keep their options open, and as we discussed in class, the need for dual citizenship could be as a result of various possible situations.

In some cases, dual citizenship worked for people who had children, and with the children in mind, parents would temporarily move back to their home country so that they can have people there to help care for their children. Additionally, a lot of families find it very important that their children maintain the traditions and culture of their country, and so by having them live a few years of their lives in their home country, they will have instilled the beliefs and ways of their culture.

Another case that was mentioned was that many people in the diaspora often intend to return back home when they retire, the amount of money that they made in America will go a much longer way in their home country. An interesting thing that we discussed in class was how many of these people who return after retiring would have difficulty living back home. Because these people have been away from home for so long, their memory of home has been over imagined from when they last left. Poverty, the efficiency of day to day living and political problems may not have been what they remembered, and when they return, its not all as great as they had dreamed. Not only is life back home different for them in the terms of lifestyle, they are also treated differently in their community, some might be jealous because of the success of their neighbor and also because they have been away for so long, some might view them as foreign.

In order to keep the disappointment after retirement situation from happening, another reason for people in the diaspora to maintain their connection back home, people in the diaspora would make frequent trips back and forth to make sure that everything is still good at home, and to also keep up with what is going on in the country.

Personally, I have not really kept up with my relationship with my family in China, partially because both of my grandparents kind of have a grudge against the country. While our other classmates talked about land and family relations back home, all I could think about was how my grandmother’s family was stripped of their land and forced to live in a small home in a village in Guangdong. For some, the connection back home has cultural significance and well as future importance, you don’t want to burn all your bridges and leave all your eggs in one basket, so for them maintaining the connection to the home country and returning often is very important.